282 



ON SNAKES. 



day, having been seized, not by a ferocious rattle : 

 snake, but by a vehement desire to see the land 

 of his old grandfather Bull, of whom he had heard 

 so many strange accounts, as how that, the old 

 whimsical gentleman, fancies himself rolling in 

 riches, although actually in debt, to the incredible 

 amount of eight hundred millions of pounds ster- 

 ling, &c, &c, he resolved to cross the great pond 

 which intervenes betwixt the pastures of Mr. Bull, 

 and the interminable regions of his grandson 

 Jonathan. But, the cents were wanting. How- 

 ever after much cogitation he bethought himself of 

 a project, which probably had never entered into 

 the head of mortal man, since the day of Noah's 

 flood. 



He calculated, that as his grandfather Bull, had 

 no rattlesnakes in his pastures at home, the old 

 gentleman perhaps would like to see, what kind 

 of animals they really are, when alive, and in 

 vigour. 



So by hook and by crook, this enterpising son of 

 Vulcan, actually managed to capture from thirty 

 to forty rattlesnakes ; and having placed them 

 carefully in a box, which he had got made for the 

 purpose, he set sail with them from New York, 

 on one fine summers morning, for the land of his 

 ancestors; where he exhibited them, with profit 



